Luminair



G. RUCKER June 10, 1930.

LUMINAIR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR I M; BY

ATTORNEY Filed July 2'7, 1926 Patented June 10, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GEORGE RUOKER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO HOLOPHANE COMPANY, INC., OF YORK N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK LUMINAIR Application filed July 27, 1926.

The object of the present invention is the construct-ion 01f aluminair such as is usually employed for street lighting units for use on a sloping street or roadway. The light distribution of such units is calculated for posts and street or road contours at right angles to each other, and the use of such devices and posts on a sloping street will cause the device to operate in a different way from thatwhich was intended, necessarily at variance with the principles of correct light distribution.

The purpose of the present invention is the construction of a luminair which can be altered to suit any variation in street conditions.

Fig. 1 is an elevation partially cut away of the refractor and holding device used in the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevation partially cut away of a complete luminair showing the interior tipping device;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of a street and conventionalluminair as at present used showing an estimated illumination result;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a street and the present invention showing the improved illumination result.

Street lighting units as at present constructed are mounted as shown in Fig. 4, on a sloping street. The unit has to be vertical for mechanical and aesthetic reasons and the result is that the light distribution on the street is uneven because the street slopes downward on one side of the light and upward on the other. In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 5, I have shown a luminair which will do away with these objections by using a refractor enclosed in a partially diffusing outer globe, where it is possible to alter the distribution of light by tipping the refractor without changing the appearance of the unit as a whole. The outer globe conceals the refractor sufficiently so that an observer can not see whether the refractor is tipped or not. Consequently, the correct appearance of the complete unit is retained while the distribution of light is corrected with Serial No. 125,152.

reference to the street by means of tipping the refractor.

In Fig. 3 the refractor 1 is shown as placed inside of the diffusing globe 17 and surrounding the lamp 11. The globe and lamp are mounted on a' post 14, with top 15. In Figs. 1 and 2 the various interior parts are shown in detail the 'refractor 1 being supported at its upper flange 5 by means of a holding ring 6. This ring is supported by two rods 7 8 coming up from below and placed 180 apart around the refractor. The rods are jointed at 8 at a point on a level with the light source so that they may be tipped at this point, thus tipping the ring and refractor which they support. ing nuts 10 are placed on bolts 9 on which the device turns so that they can be tightened up to hold the refractor rigidly in any angular position. Since the refractor turns on an axis passing through the light center, the relative position of the refractor and light center are always maintained so that the lightdistribution from the refractor is always the same being merely tipped upward or downward as desired.

Figs. 4 and 5 shows the way in which by use of the present invention the light distribution is corrected and improved on the street. Without the tipping device as shown in Fig. 4, the angle of maximum light from the refractor which is ordinarily 15 below the horizontal, shoots far down the street on one side of the unit and hits the street close to the unit on the other. This causes spotty illumination and unnecessarily high glare. Fig. 5 shows the way the light is distributed when the refractor is tipped an amount corresponding to the street grade. The maximum beam of light strikes the street at the same distance from the lighting unit whether it goes up the street or down the street.

In Fig. 3 the manner of calculating the amount which the refractor and ring must be turned is graphically set forth. The angle a made by the vertical axis of the post and general vertical axis of the unit with the vertical axis of the refractor is the same as the angle made between the line of the street grade and the horizontal axis of the post. Thus the street contour line 12 and. the horizontal axis of the device 13 make an angle alequal to the angle between the vertical axis of the entire device and a line passing through the linear axis of the refractor. In order that the posts shall be generally vertical and symmetrical and parallel with the other posts on the street or road the angular space between the road contour and the base of the'post is built up by a concrete wedge 14 as shown in Fig. 3. An ornamental top of glass or metal 15 is generally employed to round out the diffusing globe 17.

While the drawings show a cylindrical type of refractor supported at the top, any type of refractor may be used supported in any fashion, care being always taken that the axis of tipping is a desired axis through the light center. The refractor, of course, may be tipped in any direction with reference to such axis.

I claim:

1. A luminair comprising a stationary light source, a light transmitting envelope containing a refractor on opposite sides of the light source, a support and means for tipping the refractor in the envelope with relation to the support and about an axis passing through the center of the light source to shift the entire emitted beam correspondingly.

2. A luminair comprising a light source, a light transmitting envelope containing a refractor, a ring carrying the refractor in the envelope and rods supporting the ring, the rods being jointed at a point on the level with the light center and adapted to tip the ring and the refractorin the envelope at a desired angle.

3. A luminair for illuminating a sloping surface, comprising a light transmitting envelope supported above the surface, a stationary light source therein, a light directing device being substantially symmetrical about its'normally vertical axis for similarly illuminating a level surface on opposite sides of the luminair, and mounting means for the light directing device to tiltlit about an axis transverse of the direction of slope of the surface whereby substantiallythe same light distribution may be had on a sloping surface;

4. A luminair for roadway illumination,

comprising 'a light transmitting envelope supported above the roadway, a stationary light source therein, a refractor about the light source and inside the envelope, said refractor being substantially symmetrical about itsnormally vertical axis for similarly illuminating a level roadway on opposite sides of the luminair, and mounting means for the refractor to tilt it about an'axis transverse of the roadway whereby substantially the same light distribution may be had along a slopingroadway.

5. A luminair for roadway illumination, comprising a light transmitting envelope supported above the roadway, astationary light source therein, a refractor about the light source and inside the envelope, said refractor being substantially symmetrical about its normally vertical axis for similarly illuminating a level roadway on opposite sides of the luminair,,andmounting means for the refractor to tilt it about an axis transverse of the roadway and intersecting the center of the light source whereby substantially the same light distribution may be had along a sloping roadway.

Signed at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California this 20 day of July, 1926. v

' GEORGE RUCKER. 

